Daniel Bortz: Patchwork Memories (Suol, 2013)

Debut full-length from Daniel Bortz, co-founder of minimal/tech-house collective Pastamusik. Not familiar with his earlier stuff, but I feel like this is the type of album that could be a good sort of crossover album to people who aren’t hardcore into techno, similar to Nicolas Jaar or Matthew Dear. It starts off with “Alone At Home”, a downtempo track with late-night autotune, then goes into a series of melodic, lovelorn dance tracks with vocals. Seems to run the gamut emotionally, from yearning (“Spend The Night”) to lovstruck ecstasy (“First Love”) to depression (“The Misery”). “Bright” is another short, sensuous downtempo track, and “Satisfaction” is a chuggy midtempo synth-disco track with vocoders. “In the Yard” is another melancholy (but brightly melodic) downtempo track, followed by “Pictures”, a depressive dance track with deep, moaning vocals. “My Cats Won’t Let Me Sleep” is a static-covered instrumental with pianos and sharp viola-like synth sounds, and “Friends” ends the album with the phrases “so many friends” and “I’m so happy to have you home” concurrently looped, making it seem like a bittersweet ending to a kind of lonely album, but you feel like something hasn’t been resolved.